The Waterford wrestling team was 2nd in the Division 6 qualifier to the Masters Championships among the 25 Div.6 teams and in 12th place among all 42 teams including the Division 5 teams.
The team qualified 8 wrestlers in the top 3 places at our SAL championships; but were allowed 2 more wrestlers who were 4th place alternates when other league place winners withdrew due to injuries or illness. Wrestling in their first Divisional championships were Chet Watson at 152lbs.( Chet finished 0-2), Soren Morm at 113lbs.(Soren was 1-2), Jackson Hampton at 120lbs.(Jackson was 0-2), Christian Boungnaseng at 285lbs.(Christian was 2-2), Sangha Morm(Sangha Morm was 1-2) and Julian Ibarra at 182lbs.(Julian was 1-2). Daniel Mercado, who was wrestling at 220lbs. defeated Castanogia from Summerville by the score of 18-2 in his first match. In the quarterfinals, he lost to the eventual champion, Gio Pintarelli from Sutter Union, by a fall in the 1st period. In the consolations, he pinned Ethan Contreras from Wheatland in the 2nd period, and then pinned Noah Johnson from Calaveras in the 2nd period. In the consolation quarterfinals, he lost an 8-3 decision to Ian Vieira from Rio Vista and did not place. Vieira would finish 3rd. At 145lbs., Ryan Espinoza finished 6th. In his first match, he pinned Scott Kristofferson from Argonaut, in the 3rd period. In the quarterfinals, he was pinned in the 1st period by the eventual champion, Ezra Duenas from Hilmar. In the consolations, down 8-1, he got an escape, a takedown, and two near falls before he pinned Ahmed Al-Shammar from San Juan in the 3rd period. In his next match, he flattened Ian Goodwin from Sonora with a headlock and pinned him in the 3rd period. In the consolation quarterfinals, he defeated Logan Wentzell from Escalon by the score of 9-3. Ryan had previously lost to Wentzell: 3-1 in an earlier tournament. In the consolation semi-finals, he was pinned by Gordan Girardin from El Dorado in the 1st period. Girardin would finish 3rd. Ryan wrestled Landon Rhodd from Ripon for 5th place and was pinned in the 3rd period. Only the top 4 place winners qualify for the Masters, so Ryan's season ended. He finished this year with a record of 25 - 17. The surprise place winner was Wildcat Dillion Howry at 106lbs. Dillon was an alternate and made the most of it. In his quarterfinal match, he went back and forth with SAL champ, Hudson Kehler, before he was pinned in the 3rd period. Kehler would eventually finish 2nd. In the consolations, he received a win by default from Matt Stanley from Woodland Christian in his first match. In the consolation quarterfinals, he defeated Marcos Espejel from Bret Harte by the score of 9-5. In the consolation semi-finals, he was pinned by Landon Mason from Hughson in the 2nd period. Mason would take 3rd place. In the 5th place match, he pinned James Horton from Bear River in the 2nd period. He finished his very first season with a 7-7 record. At 160lbs., Diego Castillo would be seeded 23rd out of 28 wrestlers due to his 3rd place finish at the SAL Championships. In his 1st match, he won a very tough 3-2 decision over Jackson Viers from Colfax. There were many stoppages for blood time and injuries to both wrestlers. In his next match, he tossed and pinned Logan Dooley from Escalon in the 3rd period. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Cory Richardson from Union Mine in the 3rd period. In the semi-finals, he would lose to Damian Valderamma from Sutter Union in a wild 18-7 match. Damian would eventually finish 2nd. In the consolation semi-finals, Diego would pin Brady Kline from Hughson with 2 seconds left in the match when Diego was winning 13-1. In the 3rd place match, he would wrestle Vinicius Tome from Stone Ridge Christian. He had previously defeated him in a tournament earlier this season by the score of 12-3. Ty Holt from Mariposa defeated Vinicius in their semifinal, 15-6, to get revenge from the SAL Championship match in which he was pinned by Vinicius. Ty Holt would win the championship, 4-2, in overtime. After a scoreless 1st period, Diego got caught in a cradle and was pinned with 12 seconds to go in the 2nd period. Diego advances to the SJS Masters Championships this Friday and Saturday. Diego's current record is 30-14.